Contents

Gollum

When he heard from his agent that John Hubbard wanted to hear him as the voice of an animated character, Serkis originally felt dismayed. When told it was Gollum, it changed little: he had read The Hobbit when he was eight, but nothing else. Not until his (later) wife Lorraine convinced him to go to the audition did he actually think of doing it.

He recorded a demo, in which he portrayed Gollum full of self-pity and guilt, and he based the gulping swallow sound "gollum" on his cat Diz coughing up a furball.

At the advice of Fran Walsh, he kept a diary, and this diary was later edited to become Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic. It details his casting, the shooting, the additional motion capture, and the voice dubbing pick-ups.

Serkis spent a total of five years in New Zealand, and did extra work later in London. He dubbed most of his lines as Gollum there, and also provided an eerie voice for the Witch-king of Angmar. Together with Jim Dunk, he also voiced most of the Uruk-hai in Uglúk's troop.

Quotes

"They're only scorned because they're into something popular. But it's just the same as supporting a football team or being madly into Picasso or Brahms. And it's certainly a lot more fun than chess."

"This must be totally bizarre to them. I mean, at least when I look up at them I see Frodo and Sam, and I just play off them, but when they look at me, all they must see is a man in a gimp suit, with a face that makes Jim Carrey's look relaxed and a voice that sounds like a cat being sick."